awesome. This could be a never ending series. "Are you a fun loving Serbian-American kid who thinks genocide is cool and loves hanging out at the disco?" oh the possibilities . . .

Brighton Beach Russians Inspired by 'Jersey Shore'

In OnScreen & Music
by Susie Anderson
February 24, 2010

Jersey Shore's little sister?

Love MTV's Jersey Shore? Well, soon you could be welcoming another nationality onto your television. Instead of Italian guidos and guidettes, you could be watching young Russians in Brighton Beach get their partying on, Jersey Shore style.

Elina Miller, a New York City television producer has been so inspired by Jersey Shore, she wants try it in a different area with a whole different group of people- Russian-Americans in Brighton Beach, New York! But will she be able to find her Russian Snookie? And a Russian-American 20-something with a body like The Situation's? She's certainly trying!

A casting call has already gone out, stating, "Are you the Russian Snooki or The Situation? Are you a super outgoing and fun-loving Russian-American that sometimes sneaks kalbaska, pel'meni and vodka from the fridge? Can people hear the Euro/Techno/Russian music blasting from your car before they see you pull up? ... The cameras will roll as you do what you do best-eat, drink and PARTY... Here's who we're looking for: Outgoing guys and girls between the ages of 21 and 30 who would be willing to spend one summer living in an all-expense paid digs in the New York City area and consider themselves to be Russian-American (or from the former U.S.S.R, including the Caucasus). We're searching for people throughout the entire U.S. including: NYC, Miami, Cleveland, Chicago, L.A., San Francisco and beyond. You must love attention and be the opposite of camera-shy...."

I don't know. It sounds like Miller is trying to replicate Jersey Shore a little bit too closely. People are already getting pretty sick of Snooki and gang; can we really handle a whole new group of obnoxiousness? As if it wasn't bad Jersey Shore is coming back for season 2.

Not to mention, I'm sure this will anger many groups of Russian-Americans, just like Jersey Shore has angered Italian-Americans. But Miller says it shouldn't. She says, "While some of the stereotypes may have merit, I'm trying to show that [the community is] a lot more complex. One thing that's common across all cultures is the desire young people have to have fun, to unleash." Snooki-style? We'll see about that.

One thing's for sure. I kind of want to hear what this Euro/Techno/Russian music is all about!

Go see the musical "NINE" and see how many times the name "GUIDO" is used!

Racism is quite human. It is part of the American experience.The current President Obama has statements about police that many police perceived as racist. The prior two Presidents have supported policies that were racist in nature.

I can go one and on but you get the picture. Just think it it this way. When a Marlin gets caught on the end of a line he doesn't care if a black man or a white man is on the other end of the fishing pole. Either way he is going to fight until he gets pulled into the boat for the vacation photo.

Okay, Imma start a fight here but I work with so many openly racist East Coast Italians that I find it down right silly that any Italian would complain about being caricatured. It's like a black person who hates white people complaining about white people being racists.

Not that I'm complaining. I find white ethnicity on the East Coast fascinating. (The West Coast is a cultural black hole.) Here Italians are ITALIANS, Irish are IRISH, Puerto Ricans are PUERTO RICANS. The guys I work with asked me *what I was*. No one had ever asked me that. I told them that I thought I had Dutch ancestors but that my family didn't much care. It would have been cool if it had been Ryerson Steel but alas, it was the brother who was a drunk farmer. Doh!

I might create more controversy by saying that I found black people less hostile toward white people here than on the West Coast. It didn't take me long to figure out why. It's much less segregated here. Everyone lives on the same street. Everyone says what they think. I've always liked people I can read. I hate a person who won't tell you what they think of you to your face.

(A young Puerto Rican girl who lived above us had emotional and alcohol problems until her family came to the rescue. Her African American boyfriend let his friends climb up on the roof while they were partying. They ran around on the roof tops, threw bottles in our yard and caused a general ruckus. Our black neighbors identified the problem. "Well, ya know, those spicks love their black men." I love the East Coast!)

Is this what politicians have time for?

Ah, more grandstanding. Yes, this is what we need politicians for.

New Jersey Legislators Object to ?Jersey Shore?

By DAVE ITZKOFF



The cast of the MTV show ?Jersey Shore.?

When you hear about a chorus from New Jersey, perhaps you think of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Bon Jovi or even Kool and the Gang. But now a group of lawmakers from the Garden State has joined a different such ensemble ? the growing chorus that is calling on MTV to cancel its hit reality show ?Jersey Shore.?

The Associated Press reported that the New Jersey Italian American Legislative Caucus has written a letter of protest to Viacom, the parent company of MTV, with state senators and assembly members in the group asking that the show be immediately taken off the air because it promotes derogatory ethnic stereotypes and is ?wildly offensive.?

?Jersey Shore,? a reality show that follows eight delightful young men and women (with nicknames like ?The Situation? and ?Snooki?) on their charming summer escapades in Seaside Heights, N.J., had its debut on MTV in November. In short order, it has been protested by Unico National, the Order of the Sons of Italy in America and the National Italian-American Foundation for its frequent use of the term ?Guido? and its portrayal of Italian-Americans, and drawn complaints from the Jersey Shore Convention and Visitors Bureau.

MTV did not immediately respond to the legislators? caucus, but has previously said that the show ?depicts just one aspect of youth culture? and is not intended ?to stereotype, discriminate or offend.?